1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to surgical stapling apparatus including surgical buttresses which can be releasably attached to the surgical stapling apparatus, and in particular, to surgical stapling apparatus having sutures disposed within recessed grooves therein. Sutures join the surgical buttress to the surgical stapling apparatus such that the surgical buttress is released upon firing of the surgical stapling apparatus.
2. Background of Related Art
Surgical stapling instruments that are used to sequentially or simultaneously apply one or more rows of fasteners to join segments of body tissues are well known in the art. The fasteners are typically in the form of surgical staples but two part polymeric fasteners can also be utilized. Such devices generally include a pair of jaws to clamp therebetween the body tissues to be joined. Typically, one of the jaw members includes a staple cartridge which accommodates a plurality of staples arranged in at least two lateral rows while the other jaw member has an anvil plate that defines a surface for forming the staple legs as the staples are driven from the staple cartridge.
When the stapling instrument is actuated, longitudinally translating cams contact staple drive members in one of the jaws which in turn acts upon staple pushers to sequentially or simultaneously eject the staples from the staple cartridge. A blade can travel between the staple rows to longitudinally cut and/or open the stapled tissue between the rows of staples. Such instruments are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,079,606 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,675, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
When stapling relatively thin or fragile tissues, it is important to effectively seal the staple line against air or fluid leakage. Additionally, it is often necessary to reinforce the staple line against the tissue to prevent tears in the tissue or pulling of the staples through the tissue. One method of preventing tears or pull through involves the placement of a biocompatible fabric reinforcing material, or a “surgical buttress,” between the staple and the underlying tissue. In this method, a layer of surgical buttress is placed against the tissue and the tissue is stapled in a conventional manner through the surgical buttress. In more recent methods, the layer of surgical buttress is positioned on the stapling instrument itself prior to stapling the tissue. Some surgical staplers utilize fasteners or clips to temporarily connect surgical buttresses to each of the jaws of the staplers, i.e., one disposed on the staple cartridge and the other on the anvil plate.
The present application discloses a retention system for securing surgical buttresses to the jaws of the stapler. The retention system allows the surgical buttresses to secure to a tissue contacting surface of the staple cartridge and anvil plate by utilizing sutures disposed within recessed grooves along the tissue contacting surfaces of each of the staple cartridge and anvil plate. This retention system diminishes the likelihood of premature suture release during assembly, packing or firing.